January 26th, 2025
Atonement Lutheran Church
Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Sermon on Luke 4:16–30
Luke 4:18-19: “18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
In the Name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The heart of Jewish worship and religion was the observance of the law of Moses and the sacrificial system, that could only be done at the Temple in Jerusalem. To accommodate the needs of the Jewish people, as the nation grew and the people spread across the land, synagogues were established. Synagogues were multipurpose buildings, used as schools, courts, meetings, debates, and for worship. It is unknown when synagogues were first started, but by Jesus’ time, every village and town had one. On the Sabbath day, it was the center for hearing the scriptures read and the teachings on the scriptures. The temple in Jerusalem was still the focal of worship and the only place where sacrifices could be made and accepted by the Jewish priesthood. But the Jewish daily life revolved around the synagogue.
Jesus would have been described as an itinerant or traveling rabbi. Before our Gospel reading today, Jesus went through Galilee teaching and preaching in the synagogues. Inevitably, Jesus would come to his hometown of Nazareth. Here among all the familiar sights, sounds, and smells Jesus would feel right at home. I know that when I return to the place where I grew up, all those familiar things relax me. And when I was younger, when I first gained my IT skills; I wanted to show them to my parents and impress them with what I can do – which kind of backfired on me, as I am the first one, they call for ANY computer or phone issue. Trying to help my mom and dad and explaining to them what I need them to do over the phone is not easy.
On the Sabbath Day, it was custom and honor for an itinerant rabbi to read the scripts and give a teaching on them – what we call today a sermon. What could have been in the minds of the people? They have heard about his great preaching and the miracles he has done in other towns and villages. What did they expect to hear? I suspect it is the same that the World expects to hear from Jesus. They expected, just as the World expects, to hear a message to love one another and be a good person. A shallow and superficial message, with no substance or “meat” to it, and absolutely no Good News of salvation.
Before giving his sermon, Jesus read the script reading for that day, Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Here we recall the Baptism of our Lord and His anointing for the sacred duty of proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the people. Jesus Christ received another type of anointing; the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which descended onto Jesus in the form of a dove. In the Old Testament, prophets were not just anointed with water or oil but also with the Spirit of God descending on them. So, at Christ's Baptism, not only was Jesus anointed as a priest through the waters of baptism for the sacred duty of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ was also anointed as a prophet of God, with the Holy Spirt descending on to Him in the form of a dove.
The passage also tells us that Christ will “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”. What is this “year of the Lord’s favor”? In the Old Testament ceremonial laws every seven years, was a Sabbath year. During this time farm fields are left alone – no planting – to allow the land to reset, to recover from being used. Today this is a common farming practice as overplanting a field will degrade its productivity to the point where it is useless to grow any crops. A Jubilee year occurred after seven Sabbath years, every fifty years. During this time land rights revert to the original owners. Israelite's slaves are set free, and all debts are forgiven. This is to show the Lord favor on His people by forgiving past offenses, past debts, and past losses. In other words, “the year of the Lord’s favor”.
Today, this year of the Lord’s favor is extended to us, in baptism and in the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Christ's death and resurrection to we find the forgiveness of our debts of our sins, where we are set free from the bonds of captivity to our sins, and we are given the sight to see ourselves in a new light in Christ. We are given new desire, wants and need for Christ and to do the His good works that He has prepared for us.
Jesus’s sermon was not what the people were expecting. Jesus said, “to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”” This was probably the shortest sermon they had ever heard, and the greatest one they, and us, had ever heard. Jesus was proclaiming the Gospel, the year of our Lord’s favor to his hometown people. He is proclaiming to be the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, the one to redeem the people back to God and to set them free from their sins. The people were utterly unimpressed.
Though the people “marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth” but could not believe that the little boy Jesus they knew would grow up and claim to be the Messiah. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that people knew he was the son of Joseph the carpenter – his earthly father – that Mary was his mother and knew his brothers and sisters. And quickly this marvel at his words turned into offence. The people began to demand miracles, like what he did in the other towns and villages around them.
In response to the people's demand for miracles, Jesus states “no prophet is acceptable in his hometown” referencing the cycle of rejection, persecution, and martyrdom of the Old Testament prophets and applying it to Himself. Jesus goes on and state that because the prophets Elijah and Elisha were rejected by the people of Israel, God sent them to Gentiles who would not reject them. Indicating that Gentiles were equal in deserving of God’s blessing along with God's very own chosen people. To no one’s surprise, this angered the people and they sought to drive Jesus out of the town and throw him down the hill, possibly killing him. Yet, through a miracle, Jesus “passing through their midst, he went away”.
This interaction, this rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by the people of Nazareth, mirrors our own rejection of Christ in our lives. We cannot believe that God entered our world and into our lives in Jesus Christ. We cannot believe that God loves so much that He willingly gave up His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins on the cross. We cannot believe that Christ rose from the dead and proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor into our lives. We cannot believe that Christ comes to us still in the waters of Baptism and through the elements of the Lord's Supper. Yet it is by the Grace of God, through the Holy Spirt that God has given us this faith to believe in Him and to have every lasting life with Him.
How is this faith given to us by the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit come to us through reading of the Bible, coming to Church, hearing the Word of God preached, in Bible study, in prayer, in Baptism and in the Lords Supper. It is through these means that we encounter God and hear of His Gospel message. Here we learn how much God loves us that He would send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to us. To live with use, suffer with us, and died for us.
Upon the cross, the Love of God was shown, for “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”. Upon the cross, Christ took our sins and paid the price for those sins. God’s love for us is so great that death could not contain it. On the third day Christ rose from the death, to show us the love of God, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” that has no end.
May the Grace and Love of God that surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and minds and keep us with Him in faith.
Amen.
